Grid Appliance 2.03.00
David Isaac Wolinsky
significant effect on the future of Grid Appliance. This significant
effect would be the goal of redefining what a Grid Appliance is.
Traditionally, this has been IPOP, Condor, monitoring scripts, and a few
other effects wrapped up in a virtual machine. The problem with this
approach is that it makes it difficult to add physical resources to the
system whether they be additional resources in the condor system, remote
flock to systems, remote grid systems, or even already existing NFS
servers. Bringing this altogether is a massive task and isn't quite
complete. The initial task of making IPOP portable has been taken care
of via the GroupVPN, so now we can easily NFS servers and possibly other
tasks. The next goal is to decouple the Grid Appliance scripts and
other effects (such as nfs automount, samba access, cow) from the VM.
So with that in mind over the next 3/4 months, we will be in a
"transition" phase where we plan on completing this vision and have a
more rolling release of Grid Appliances.
So where does that leave us? With GroupVPN, we are now able to
introduce Archer like Group support for all users handled by
GroupAppliances. Users will be able to create their own GroupVPNs
(http://www.grid-appliance.org/wiki/index.php/GroupVPN) and then add a
GroupAppliance
(http://www.grid-appliance.org/wiki/index.php/GroupAppliances) to it. A
GroupAppliance will give your priority over your resources if you share
a GroupVPN with other GroupAppliance users, just like specifying a group
did in Archer.
Some key aspects of this release include:
- GroupVPN supports Static IP Addresses
- GroupVPN and GroupAppliances are portable providing the ability for
users to create self-sustained systems that exist separate from our (UF)
resources. In essence, we have created a generic and portable VPN and
Secure Appliance system.
- Improved Security of Grid Appliance and interaction with the website
- Fast / efficient relaying over the overlay when direct connectivity
(NAT traversal) isn't possible (no longer should you see ping times in
excess of 200 ms -- well after you've triggered the appropriate
autonomic connection creator)
Regarding Archer users, over the next 24 hours, we will be transitioning
the system. While the UF Archer pool is running, we still need to
discuss a mechanism of putting Simics on a new URL. Also this change to
GroupAppliances will require that all users follow these directions:
http://www.grid-appliance.org/wiki/index.php/Archer:Global (and they
will work in general for other users wanting to create their own pools).
At this point in time, we will be discontinuing creation of new Archer
accounts using the old system and request that users not needing simics
proceed using the new system and those needing it, please contact us if
don't have a solution viable for you in the near future.
So hopefully prior to beginning of the Spring Semester (early January),
we will have a new release culminating in a fresh upgrade that makes
everything easy from here on out. In the meantime, please test things
out, evaluate how it works for you, give feedback, and try to get involved.
Download links:
https://www.grid-appliance.org/files/appliances/beta/ga2.zip
https://www.grid-appliance.org/files/appliances/beta/ga2.tbz
For now they are listed on the beta url, while I will maintain that
link, they will shortly replace the 2.02.05 Appliance. And of course,
by default, they will connect to our public pool.
Regards,
David